I drew this map of Mirtenik about five years ago as a birthday present for my (now) wife when I learned whe was writing a fantasy novel. It was my first foray into cartography and I was surprised at how hard/awesome it was! Very time consuming, but incredibly rewarding! I didn't really have any specific style I was shooting for, nor did I really use many references. I just grabbed a couple of fantasy books off the shelf and scanned the general style of the maps within.

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I started out by hand drawing all of the details I didn't feel confident I could do in Photoshop with a mouse. This was before my days with the Wacom. :) That includes the borders, forests, rivers, hills, mountains, and ocean edges. Drawn with a 0.5 mechanical pencil on a piece of printer paper.

I feel there's a good chance I may invoke the river police on this one! But before you offer swift justice to my lack of general gravitational knowledge, know that I am totally aware and am going to be re-drawing it soon. The wife soon to be publishing her novel, and will need a proper map. :D

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This was scanned, and then all the names, cities, borders and general antiquing were done in Photoshop. Credit goes to the fine folks at DeviantArt who drew the beautiful ships, borders, city symbols, compass rose, and sea creatures. I only wish I were that talented.

arsheesh

12-05-2013, 02:55 PM

This is fantastic! Please do stick around and show us more of your work.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

BrandF

12-05-2013, 04:13 PM

Very nice! I am going to have to brush up on my drawing skills....a lot because I have none.

WillyWombat

12-05-2013, 05:53 PM

Thanks for the kind words!

Ilanthar

12-06-2013, 09:19 AM

I like your borders and the things around your continent (boats, dolphin, dragon and the compass). Even if you didn't draw it, it's not always easy to use.
Your rivers and deltas (which look "swampy") are really convincing and well done. I'm not fond of your forests, I think your trees are too big compared to your mountains, which is a bit disturbing.

WillyWombat

12-06-2013, 11:39 AM

The rivers are my favorite parts. I thought they turned out exactly the way I wanted them to, which is always nice.

The mountains and trees though? Meh... This is where I'm glad I found the tuts here on CG.

jbgibson

12-10-2013, 12:01 AM

Weeeellllll, now, Mister Wombat -- I think you may've misaprehended the sort of law officers we have hearabouts. Ain't no "C'mon punk, make my day", no "Book 'em Dano", and definitely no "What we have here is a FAILyuh to coMUNicate." Speakin;' solely fer m'self, of course, my tendency is more of the ""Son, ya might wanna do this, instead"... or an occasional "why don't we just set down that pen and think about this, before somebody gets hurt"?

'Sides which, 'less I'm mistaken, five years is beyond the statute of limitations for river infractions. Water under the bridge, so to speak. Proper course of action here might just be to suggest you take a peek at this little book: How to Get Your Rivers in the Right Placel (http://www.cartographersguild.com/tutorials-how/3822-how-get-your-rivers-right-place.html). Bit of study there might save you a world of difficulty with water running uphill, oceans that don't lie flat, sideways slopes ignoring gravity. Gravity - that what you claim you don't know 'bout? Why, son, that's simple a can be. Up is where things start, by themselves, and left to themselves, down is where they wind up. And gravity - that's just earth and sky pickin' sides 'bout which way is up.

Sort of thing that white-up teaches includes stuff like "sea-to-shining-sea"... being a fine poetic expanse of territory but an improbable watercourse. Read up on it, and I doubt your wife will have any trouble at all using your cartography to sell books. :-)

Havercakes24

12-11-2013, 10:15 PM

Love the map man, everything from the font to the simple yet very cool art man great job. PS DEM Forests!

Starlord

12-12-2013, 03:14 PM

I like the style.

WillyWombat

12-16-2013, 12:16 AM

Weeeellllll, now, Mister Wombat -- I think you may've misaprehended the sort of law officers we have hearabouts. Ain't no "C'mon punk, make my day", no "Book 'em Dano", and definitely no "What we have here is a FAILyuh to coMUNicate." Speakin;' solely fer m'self, of course, my tendency is more of the ""Son, ya might wanna do this, instead"... or an occasional "why don't we just set down that pen and think about this, before somebody gets hurt"?

'Sides which, 'less I'm mistaken, five years is beyond the statute of limitations for river infractions. Water under the bridge, so to speak. Proper course of action here might just be to suggest you take a peek at this little book: How to Get Your Rivers in the Right Placel (http://www.cartographersguild.com/tutorials-how/3822-how-get-your-rivers-right-place.html). Bit of study there might save you a world of difficulty with water running uphill, oceans that don't lie flat, sideways slopes ignoring gravity. Gravity - that what you claim you don't know 'bout? Why, son, that's simple a can be. Up is where things start, by themselves, and left to themselves, down is where they wind up. And gravity - that's just earth and sky pickin' sides 'bout which way is up.

Sort of thing that white-up teaches includes stuff like "sea-to-shining-sea"... being a fine poetic expanse of territory but an improbable watercourse. Read up on it, and I doubt your wife will have any trouble at all using your cartography to sell books. :-)